Michigan Theatre looking sharp with new projector

mlive.com"Iron Man" will be the first movie to play on the Michigan Theatre's new digital projection system this weekend.

Today I got a chance to stop by the Michigan Theatre and watch a few minutes of previews on its new digital projection system, and I have to tell you, folks, I think you're going to be impressed when you see it. I know I was.

I've only had one chance to attend a screening at the theater so far: the "Brew & View" double feature of "Dazed and Confused" and "Superbad." It was one heck of a fun night, but the video and sound quality were far from optimal. The screen was so dark it was hard to see any of the night scenes. The sound was murky, so the volume had to be turned way up to almost uncomfortable levels for the audience to make out the dialog.

The theater used a small video projector for the Brew & View, but I'm told even its regular 35-mm projectors had their issues. Recently re-hired house manager George Davis (more on that in tomorrow's paper) told me they were "held together with duct tape and baling wire." The bulbs were dim and the edges of the screen were always blurry. The theater is equipped with good, powerful speakers, but Davis said there was a problem with the center channel due to the technical limitations of the old equipment.

The new projection system fixes all these problems. I was sitting in the balcony, and the images were all bright, crisp and clear. I could easily understand all the dialogue, and all the sound channels are dialed in and operating properly.

"Now it sings anywhere you sit," Davis said.

In short, it looked and sounded as good as a modern multiplexes while still retaining that big, booming sense of majesty you get inside old movie palaces.

It's a great first step toward turning the old girl into a real gem of a theater, something that Jackson can truly point to as an asset. The auditorium clearly still needs some work. The board of directors is well aware that the seats need to be replaced, but that can't happen until the plumbing can be repaired to prevent plaster from falling.

There's a fundraiser in the works to do just that. On Oct. 11, the theater is bringing "Super Sucker" back to town for the first time since the 2002 gala premier.

You can read more about all of this in the story in tomorrow's paper, but seeing how good the screen looked honestly got me excited — so much so that I'm now planning to see "Iron Man" on the big screen this weekend. You might want to think about it, too. Even if you've been to the theater before and left less than impressed, trust me, now is the time to give it a second shot.